Dreamland
by smallwoodlandplant
Summary: He wonders where she is. How come when he is standing right next to her, she still seems so far away. He wonders why he feels like something is extremely wrong, and how come she will not look up anymore. /AU/ /NaruSaku/ /Slight OOC/


**Title: **Dreamland

**Pairing: **Naruto X Sakura

**Summary: **He wonders where she is. How come when he is standing right next to her, she still seems so far away. He wonders why he feels like something is extremely wrong, and how come she will not look up anymore.

* * *

><p>It was never meant to be.<p>

The fairy tale princess, the prince charming. The glass slippers, awakening kiss. Seven little dwarves, magical household items.

They are all from a story. Some loving, romantic, happy ending story. Where the princess were beautiful and the princes were strong. Where in the end, good won out and love conquered all. It's all in a story, in dreamland. It's all in her dreamland, where she lives in half consciously, drowning in pure bliss in her made up world. Forgetting, that just through her eyelids, there is a very different world awaiting her. A very different place, where the stories were just that, stories, and she is drowning in pain.

. . .

He wants to twirl her around. Naruto wants to watch her spin round and round in circles and giggle uncontrollably like she did when they were little. He won't though, because he doesn't even know how to say 'hi' to her anymore without feeling like something is wrong.

Naruto vaguely realizes at lunch one day, he cannot remember the last time he saw her eyes. Those pools of viridian green, which he one though would always be imprinted into his mind, are something he can scarcely remember. The only clear image he has of them is one full of fear and pain, and he cannot even remember when it was she looked like that. He can barely remember the last time he saw her, because she is always skipping class and is always seemingly hiding away from everyone else.

He pushes the food on his lunch tray around, wanting ramen. Hinata says something, something that slightly piques his interest. "Have any of you seen Sakura-chan lately...?" she questions in her ever so quiet voice.

Ino snorts and scowls a bit. "No, that girl just shut us all out like she's all high and mighty. I don't care what happens to her."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah, who cares what she does."

. . .

Sakura cannot remember the last time she did not hurt. She cannot remember a day when her head and body did not throb in pain inflicted on her by those who were suppose to protect her. She cannot remember anything anymore it seems, not even how to see. She is afraid that if she looks up she may see a reflection of herself, and is to scared to think of what it will look like.

This is why she drifts away, morning and night, through class and through pain, to dreamland, where everything is all right.

. . .

Naruto finds Sakura in the most peculiar place, atop the school roof. He is up there, skipping gym. She is- well, he doesn't know why she is up there, but just that she is, and there is something utterly wrong with the situation. He'd been napping till he heard the door to the rooftop open, and had then quickly hid.

She walks so ungracefully, he wonders if she is hurt of something.

Then though, when she stands atop the ledge, his heart flies to his mouth and he wants to say something- anything!

But he doesn't.

He watches as she teeters on the edge oh-so carelessly, something he has never seen her do before. Words flow from her lips, like some type of twisted song. Her voices takes on a light, airy, almost emotionless tone that he has never heard on anyone, let alone her. "_I wonder if I jump from my place right here, if I will go there. If I will be taken there, or if it will all fade to white. I do not care, either way..."_

And then he leaves. Scared for himself, he leaves. He knows how selfish he is, and how he should stop her if she is going to jump to her death. But he can't, he's not that strong and doesn't know if he'll ever be that way.

. . .

Sakura knows there's a rumor about her going around school. One saying that she has become a drug addict, or is selling herself. A smallsmallsmall part of her old, original self snorts and thinks she isn't lucky enough to get any money when people use her money. She has never been that lucky, and probably never will be.

The rumors do not bug her, things have stopped bugging her.

At least that is what she tells herself.

She passes by the group of people she once was so close to, and looks at them through her hair. She smiles slightly to herself, glad that she distanced herself from them so they didn't get hurt. They still seem the same as always to her, and she hopes that they have forgotten about her, because that is for the best, for everyone to forget about her. That is what she keeps on being told, over and over and over again, and that is what she keeps on telling herself over and over and over again. So she believes it, because it is at least something for her to believe in her hollow world where her only happiness is dreamland, and place that too is slowly crumbling to hell.

. . .

Naruto is surprised she is in class. Even though she lays her head down on her desk, which is in the very back of the class room, and does not move the whole time, he is surprised. And happy. He tries and tell himself he doesn't care anymore, since she threw away everything, everything they had, everything they could have had. Because she threw away _him_. And he doesn't think he'll ever forgive her for that, because it hurt much more than any injury he had ever had.

Everyone is chittering and chattering when he sees her stir. He hears her whimper. He watches her twitch. He can see the tears glisten as they slide from her closed eyes and dampen her clothed arm. When she bolts up, there is a scared look on her face that he has never seen before.

He has never seen it before, but it is scary enough that he has to turn around.

He has to.

. . .

She feels dead.

Sakura doesn't know if she has ever felt as empty, as numb, as _dead _as she does now. She feels hollow as she lies on the floor of her bedroom, draped in the remainder of her clothing he didn't yank off. She can feel the pain run through her body and eat up her emotions, or what's left of them. She repeats in her head that she deserves this, that she deserves all of the pain he causes her.

She forces herself to go to dreamland, where her and Naruto, the boy who is the prince when she is the princess, live happily ever after.

. . .

Naruto is walking, lazily and calmly down the hall, not entirely paying attention to anything. He can here Ino in the background, chattering on and on about something that doesn't really interest him. He doesn't care, so he tunes her out.

_Thump!_

A yelp, and he looks to see who he ran into.

Sakura.

She is on the ground and her bright green eyes are looking at him, and they are hollow.

Something inside of him twists.

Hollow.

Her hood has fallen back, and there are bruises on her cheeks.

Big, black and blue bruises.

On her face.

His observations are made in a matter of seconds, because quickly she takes off on her feet away from him. He is to slow, comprehending what he saw, running it through every type of observation, recalling how she used to be, recalling her atop the roof, recalling her tears in class. And he wishes that he has missed something, or made a mistake.

Because if it is what he thinks it is, _he _abandoned _her_.

They all abandoned her.

And did nothing.

. . .

It's been one time too many.

He's violated, broken, destroyed, crushed, whatever you want to call it, her one too many times.

When she tries to go to dreamland, it is all white.

She does not believe in happiness anymore, and has no hope. No reason to waste the air, no reason at all. No reason for her heart to continue beating, for her eyes to continue seeing, for her hears continue hearing, for her everything to continue feeling. There is no reason, no reason at all.

. . .

_"Emptyemptyempty._"

"_Where'd you go dreamland?_"

"_Your were the only thing I was holding onto,_"

"_But now all I see is white, and it hurts more than ever even though I cannot feel._"

"_I am all alone now, after he has his way, there is nothing to comfort me._"

"_Why'd you go?_"

. . .

He knows that voice, they all do. Naruto knows they do, and he knows that her words probably make no sense in their ears. He knows this, but now wishes they would. He wishes they would save her, because he is afraid that he can't do it, and will be to blame for her lifeless eyes.

For one of the first time he is scared.

But up upon the roof, he tells himself that they are in dreamland and casually walks up to her and smiles politely. "Hello Sakura-chan, may I have this dance?" He asks, even though his voice is trembling as he holds out his hand, hoping- praying- that she'll take it.

"Naruto...?" Her voice is fragile and weak, and it to trembles. He decides that is he abandoned her, he will then find her and bring her back. He will fix his mistake, even if he spends his whole life doing it. It is something that is devastating to him, and it weighs heavily on his heart. He can only fathom what has happened to her, what she has been made to do, how much it has hurt. He is afraid to know it all, but wants to and will make sure he does, so he can carry some of her burden on his shoulders, so she does not have to deal with it alone and empty.

Very carefully, with a trembling, bruised petite hand she accepts his. He slowly pulls her closer and begins to spin her around in circles.

She does not laugh or even smile, but her eyes are filled with such delicate emotions. Crystal clear tears stream down her battered cheeks, and he mutters a soft; "you're beautiful," to her as he continues on slowly turning her round and round.

Eventually he carefully stops her, with her newly bright eyes staring up at him. "Sakura, I love you..." He whispers the word to her, and the shock is evident on her face.

She does not respond, because it will take her some time to be able to regain the ability to say those words, but he knows that she at least doesn't hate him, and decides eventually she will come to love him again (he doesn't know that she has never stopped) and he will never abandon her again, not even in death. He will go with her anywhere, and will never let another harm her the way he himself has, and the other people around him, and especially that man who he will make sure will never take another breath once he's done with him.

Because Naruto loves Sakura.

He loves her dearly.

. . .

As Naruto whispers the words 'I love you', she makes sure that her eyes are open.

And even though they are, she realizes that she is in dreamland.

. . .


End file.
